Come On, Lily
by TheNextFolchart
Summary: "Poor old James Potter," James sings, changing the song's rhythm slightly to fit his name into the lyrics. "Sounded sad upon the radio, but he moved a million hearts mono!" / Based on the song Come On, Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners


**Come On, Lily**

* * *

James licks his lips and ducks his head into his dormitory. "Are you ready?" he asks.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Remus says, just as Sirius replies, "No."

James rolls his eyes. "Good. She'll be here any minute."

"I don't see how we keep getting roped into your schemes," Peter says, but James is already sprinting down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

"She's not here yet, mate," says Frank Longbottom from his place on the couch. "I told you I'd yell up the stairs if she showed up."

"I know. I know." James runs a hand through his hair. "Do I look okay?"

"Erm." Frank looks uncomfortable. " _I_ wouldn't marry you. But, y'know, Lily will probably say yes. Since she loves you and all."

"Shh!" James waves his hands wildly in Frank's face. "Don't jinx it, Longbottom!"

Frank rolls his eyes. "You look fine, James," he says, turning his attention back to his Transfiguration textbook.

James exhales slowly. "You told Alice to bring her up here at three, right?"

"You know I did." Frank doesn't look up from his book. "You were _there._ "

"Oh. Right." James takes off his glasses and begins to polish them on his robes. His hands are shaking. "You don't think she'll say no, do you?"

"Potter, do you want a Calming Draught?"

"No!" James' eyes go wide as he replaces his glasses on his nose. "Can't lose my energy. Not if I want the big number to go over well."

Frank sighs heavily. "She's going to say yes. Now, for the love of Merlin, Dumbledore, and my Transfiguration NEWT, will you please shut _up_?"

James takes a long, slow breath. "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous."

"Anyone would be." Frank has finally looked up. "But you're going to be fine. She's going to say yes. If she can stop laughing long enough."

"Laughing?" James says. "You think she's going to laugh?"

"Not _at_ you, probably."

"No," Remus calls from upstairs, "at _us._ "

Frank smirks. "You have to admit, Potter, you've got sort of a hilarious proposal planned, and—"

The portrait hole open, and Frank closes his mouth as James wrings out his hands one last time. "…think I did okay on Question Six," Alice is saying as she steps into the common room ahead of Lily.

"I felt confident about Six," Lily says, "but Question Five was _impossible,_ I couldn't remember the ingredients for a Shrinking Solution—that's Third Year-level stuff! My brain just wouldn't…" She trails off as she sees all the candles strewn about the common room. "What's all this?"

James gives Frank a little nod. The boy on the couch flicks his wand, and from out of nowhere, the beginnings of a Muggle song begin to play.

"What _is_ all this?" Lily asks again as Remus, Sirius, and Peter, all wearing tuxedos, come down the stairs with miserable looks on their faces. "James?"

James swallows. "Erm…just go with it, okay?"

Lily raises her eyebrows. "Okay."

James pulls off his robes to reveal a tuxedo of his own, and then backs up in time with the music so that he's standing in line with his friends. The four of them wrap their arms around each other, and as the Muggle song approaches its first verse, they all open their mouths to sing.

" _Come on, Lily!_ "

Lily's jaw drops, and then stretches into a grin. She knows this song.

" _Come on, Lily!_ " sing the Marauders again, adding a little step-ball-change.

"What _is_ this?" she cries, and Frank looks up briefly and holds his left hand in the air, wiggling his ring finger and tilting his head toward James.

James steps out of line and begins to sing while his friends dance in the background, each with varying degrees of embarrassment on their faces. "Poor old James Potter," James sings, changing the song's rhythm slightly to fit his name into the lyrics. "Sounded sad upon the radio, but he moved a million hearts mono!"

Lily's grin widens. "Why _Come On, Eileen_?" she asks Frank as James sings about crying mothers.

Frank shrugs. "I think it's the only Muggle song he knows."

"Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye, aye," croon the Marauders as each of them performs a pirouette.

Lily shakes her head and laughs. In other dormitories, heads are poking out to see what all the commotion is about.

"Come on, Lily," sings James, reaching into the breast pocket of his tuxedo and pulling out a small black box.

"Oh, I swear, what he means," add the Marauders as they skip in place.

"At this moment, you mean everything!" James sinks to one knee and opens the box and reveals (to no one's surprise) a diamond ring.

"You in that dress, my thoughts, I confess, verge on dirty!" sing the Marauders while Lily nods and holds out her hand. Sirius throws her a wink on the word _dirty,_ but then he's doing a jazz square in time with his friends, and all Lily can do is laugh as James gets up and twirls her into a kiss.

"Second verse, dolt!" cries Peter, and James releases her and jumps back into the song.

Lily is crying and laughing and shaking her head at the stupidity of it all, and she's being swarmed by the other Gryffindors who want to see the ring, but Frank flicks his wand to turn the music up louder and yells, "This is the best part," so she pushes them all off and looks up to watch her boyfriend—her _fiancé_ —and his friends make fools of themselves.

"Come on, Lily, too-loo-rye-aye," sing the back-up Marauders as they put their arms around each other and start a kickline. Peter can barely get his leg up to a ninety-degree angle, but Remus' long limbs are nearly hitting his own face. Sirius is doing the bare minimum, lifting his foot only a few inches off the ground. They're all grinning in spite of themselves.

"These things they are real," croons James from his knees. "And I know how you feel!"

All around her, the common room is dancing and cheering and offering her congratulations, but Lily isn't paying attention to any of it. When the song ends and James, panting slightly, pulls her into a tight hug, she says in his ear, "That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen."

"But you said yes, eh?" James pulls back long enough to wink at her. "Sacrificed all my dignity, and you still said yes. You must really love me."

She presses her lips against his cheek. "Just call me Mrs. Potter."

He exhales sharply, gratefully, as if he's been waiting _years_ to hear her say those words, and tugs her into a deep kiss that has the rest of the common room cheering.

* * *

 _Quidditch League, Round 13_

 _Holyhead Harpies, Seeker_

 _Prompt: Write whatever you want (I've had this plot bunny for awhile, and while I'm fully aware that_ Come On, Eileen _didn't come out until the 1980s, I just wasn't feeling it with_ Come On, Ginny _so this happened instead. Maybe The Weird Sisters actually wrote the song twenty years earlier and Dexy's Midnight Runners just ripped it off.)_

 _Word Count: 1,140_


End file.
